Friday, September 29, 2017

Media ignores biggest news: the Never-Trump and Never-Republican Triumvirate controls the entire agenda in Washington: Rand Paul, Susan Collins, and John McCain won't allow Trump or the Republican Party to succeed on anything including tax reform-Wall St. Journal, Strassel

If the past eight months have proved
anything, it is that all the 24/7 news coverage of
Donald Trump’s
antics, all the millions of words devoted to
Paul Ryan’s
and
Mitch McConnell’s
plans, have been a complete waste of space and time. In the end,
control of the entire policy agenda in Washington comes down to three
senators. Three senators whom most Americans have never had a chance to
vote for or against. Three senators who comprise 8% of their party
conference. Arizona’s
John McCain,
Maine’s
Susan Collins
and Kentucky’s
Rand Paul.
Forget Caesar, Crassus and Pompey. Meet the Never-Trump
Triumvirate.

At least the House Freedom Caucus scuttles GOP
legislation based on shared principles. Sens.
Ted Cruz
and
Mike Lee
have also led revolts against bills, again based on shared
criticisms. But what do the Arizona maverick, the Maine moderate and the
Kentucky libertarian have in common? Very little.

Well, very
little save motivations that go beyond policy. And that is the crucial
point that is missing from the endless analyses of the
McCain-Collins-Paul defections on health care. The media has treated the
trio’s excuses for killing their party’s top priority as legit, despite
the obvious holes in their objections over policy and process. What in
fact binds the three is their crafting of identities based primarily on
opposition to their party or Mr. Trump. This matters, because it bodes
very ill for tax reform in the Senate. Overcoming policy objections is
one thing. Overcoming egos is another.

Mr.
McCain, who is gravely ill with brain cancer, has decided his final
legacy will be a return to the contrarian “straight talk” persona of
old, which wins him liberal media plaudits. The Arizonan has never
gotten over losing the presidency, and it clearly irks him that Mr.
Trump succeeded where he failed. His personal disdain for the president
is obvious, and his implausible excuses for opposing the Graham-Cassidy
health-care reform are proof that this is personal.

Mr. Paul worked hard during his
first Senate campaignto reassure Kentuckians that he was not his
father, and it turns out that’s very true. Because even
Ron Paul
was to be found with his party’s House majority on issues that
truly mattered,and largely saved his defections for the lost causes
that produced 434-1 votes. Sen. Paul’s standards for “conservative”
policy are as varying as the wind, and lately they blow toward whatever
position can earn him the title of purest man in Washington.

The
press was fixated this week on Mr. McConnell’s bad week, which is an
easy piece to write. But it ignores the obvious reality that the
Triumvirate seems to have never had any intention of letting its party
succeed. After all, a senator who intended to stand firm on “regular
order,” as Mr. McCain said, would have informed his colleagues of that
demand at the beginning, rather than allow his colleagues to set up for
another vote and then dramatically tank it (again) at the last minute.

A
senator who voted for “skinny” ObamaCare repeal in the summer on the
grounds that anything was “better than no repeal,” in the words of Mr.
Paul, would not suddenly engineer an unreachable set of demands for his
vote on an even better repeal.

The
Senate has no lack of lime-lighters. Nor is it low on Trump critics.
Think Nebraska’s
Ben Sasse
and Arizona’s
Jeff Flake.
The difference is that the clear majority of the critics aren’t
allowing ambition or disdain get in the way of votes for better policy.

But
this raises the question of whether the White House understands that
the Triumvirate is also the prize on tax reform. Mr. Trump took a shot
at Mr. McConnell this week, but the president needs to shift his focus
to those who hold the actual power. Those dinner invites to Chuck and
Nancy would be better reserved for Ms. Collins. Its internal
conversations need to focus on what forms of flattery or policy or
misery might appeal to the political motivations of Messrs. McCain and
Paul, and get them on side.

Because the Triumvirate made very
clear during the health-care debate how it operates. Pretending it won’t
do it again is to ignore reality."

Getting
the majority in the Senate apparently wasn't enough. We need a super
majority to overcome the McCain, Collins, Paul....and Murkowski hold
outs. These people are not Republicans anyway. They don't vote for
their constituents. They vote for their egos. McCain forgets that he
stated that anyone who votes for Trump is crazy before Trump said he
doesn't like anyone who was captured. Trump was wrong to say that
stupid thing, and McCain was wrong to denigrate millions of voters from
his own party."................

I
recognize that these three are basically "Never Trumpers", but that's
Mitch's fault. On the other side of the aisleif Chuck (Schumer) had three that
were going to wreck a bill for their own purposes, he'd rip their soul
out, publicly. Mitch is invisible. You have to beat Chuck off a microphone with a stick, Mitch can't find one."

Right
now, under the filibuster rule, most legislation requires corralling at
least seven, and probably more, Democrats for legislation to advance. No
Democrat Senator is going to stick his neck out to support, say, a tax
bill, knowing that Senator McConnell has no chance of lining up another
six to eight Democrats to join him.

But if one
Democrat, or two, could offset the loss of a McCain, Paul, Collins, and
even Murkowski, legislation might well start to move again. If Senator
McConnell finally figures this out he might even retain his leadership
role. If he doesn't, he should be replaced with a Senator who gets it."

............................

"Leon Pesenson...

In the end we are being faced with the same problem that Tories now have
in the UK.Republicans will only be able to offer a better management
of the welfare state unlike Democrats who only seek more state welfare
as a solution to what ails the welfare state. We have an opportunity,
not often presented, to roll it back to a degree, partly because
Obamacare is failing rapidly and is not as entrenched in the national
psyche, and Republicans are squandering that opportunity, mostly at the
hands of people who are not really Republicans, but caucus with them."